Male: One seasoned chef, three random ingredients, and three tough judges. It’s time for Stump the Chef. Today award winning chef Matt Weaver will set his creative culinary skills against his toughest opponent yet. Let’s see today’s random ingredients.
Female: Ground turkey, canned tomato paste and left over spaghetti?
Male: Now, let’s play Stump the Chef.
Matt: They gave me spaghetti meat balls. I’ll give them spaghetti and meatballs. But I’m going to do it my way.
Male: And he’s off.
Male: Going back to the basics on Stump the Chef, today with Chef Matt Weaver cooking up some spaghetti and meatballs for us. Not exactly sure how he plans to put a new twist on that old favor but you can see he started out by sweating some onions up on the stove, adding a little red pepper flake to that now. I’m guessing that’s going to be the start of his sauce.
Male: I have to agree to that, definitely looks like a sauce paste to me and Matt really looks like he’s on top form today. In fact, I think he may have lost some weight. What do you think?
Male: I don’t think so!
Male: Maybe it’s just the shirt.
Male: You know it could be vertical stripes are very slimming. You can see there he added a touch of salt at the end, a little chili powder and now he’s adding some stock into that. This is definitely going to bet the start of his sauce and a heavy cream as well. That’s an interesting move.
Male: Now, there comes that French influence Matt loves.
Male: And the tomato paste is our first ingredient of the day. This is most definitely going to be the tomato sauce for his spaghetti and meatballs dish. You know he use a lot more spice than you would normally see in traditional Italian cuisine and that makes me think he may be going for something like a curry base tomato sauce in which case that would be a very daring move and he’s better hope the judges like curry.
Male: He’d better hope judges are color blind.
Male: And with the tomato paste out of the way, Matt has moved on to the second ingredient of the day, the ground turkey adding a little salt to that along with some garlic powder and some curry powder. Most definitely making an Indian influence dish today, India meets Italy right here.
Male: That really reminds me of a dream I had once where a guy and he got to a fist fight.
Male: I’m pretty sure Matt’s going to want this two tasty come together in harmony.
Male: The guys got a weakened left hook.
Male: Sorry to interrupt guys but is time for Matt’s tangent.
Matt: Pasta is simply made for mixing starch, most commonly whipped with water. Pasta is usually boiled but the first mention of this did not currently fit century in Jerusalem. The earliest European use of pasta was in the 12th century in Palermo and contrary to popular myth, Marco Polo did not bring pasta from China to Italy.
In 1898, an American farmer brought seeds of Russian meat to North Dakota and modern Italian pasta is mostly made from wheat from the Dakota’s. Now, my favorite pasta dish is very simple, very tasty. Al dente garlic, a little Romano cheese, so good. Enjoy!
Male: Meanwhile, back in the kitchen.
Male: Well, he told us he was going to make meatballs and there you have it, Matt making meatballs out of his ground turkey. We saw him spice that up with some curry, some garlic powder. We saw him making that tomato sauce. Also with a lot of spice a lot of red pepper in there, this is going to be a real strong dish.
Male: I actually kind of like the Korean influence here.
Male: You know it’s a common misconception that curry is actually one particular spice. It’s actually a mixture of spices, and it varies by region and by country. You can have anything from 5 spices up to 20 spices in a curry and they also vary in the level of heat.
Male: You know curry actually affects the pain receptors of the brain releasing endorphins so just like a runners high, you can get a curry high and you can get addicted to it, just like my uncle. He’s got a first bowl of curry from his Indian neighbor for free and he had to work up to hotter and hotter curry to achieve that same high.
Male: And that’s what they call curry the gateway dish. Looks like Matt’s topping this off with some frozen piece. All we have left now is the spaghetti.
And moving on with the third ingredient with the tomato paste and the ground turkey out of the way, Matt has now moved on to his left over spaghetti. You know I had assumed we would just see him reheat this today. That sauce has so much spice going for it, the curry and the meatballs. A lot of strong robust flavor is going on. I figured that would be more than enough but it looks like Matt has something else in mind. Do you have any idea where he’s going with this pasta?
Male: Well, I really thought he was going to try something innovative here and we haven’t seen his favorite utensil, the blender. I really wanted him to just throw it in there and just mix it all up.
Male: You know that would have been experimental cooking. I have a feeling he’s not going in that direction. He’s already taken a lot of chances today especially with making a curry in spaghetti and meatballs dish. Matt, how are you feeling and what are you doing?
Matt: Well, I’m feeling pretty confident about my curry. My turkey meatballs are coming out really nice. I’m not trying to experiment with this pasta and it could be really fun, really pretty or it could be an oily disaster. Wish me luck!
Male: Well I have to say I didn’t see this coming. It looks like he’s going to fry it?
Male: Well, if he’s not going to blend it, Matt’s going to fry it.
Male: It’s plating time.
Male: Well, I’ve never seen anything like this before. A deep fried pasta bowl? I have to say this is going to be one incredible presentation.
Male: Well, personally I think it looks like a birds nest kind of.
Male: You know Matt is always is always coming up with new and innovative ways to present his dishes. He’s got to be spooning that sauce over the bowl now. This is going to look fantastic.
Male: I’m just waiting for the curry turkey to come home to roast.
Male: I don’t think turkeys have nest!
Male: Yeah, they do.
Male: No, they don’t.
Male: Yeah, they do.
Male: Looks good to me, but let’s see what our judges have to say about that.
Matt: Today, I was given left over spaghetti, canned tomato paste and ground turkey. So, I made spaghetti and meatballs but I’ve taken a fun in different direction with it. I’ve made curry turkey meatballs, an traditional Indian curry with the tomato paste and a fun and crispy pasta birds nest. I think it looks great. Hope it taste great. Check it out.
Josh: It is excellent. It is by far probably one of the best left over dishes I’ve ever had. All the flavors are spot on and as far as frying up leftover spaghetti in a bird nest, it’s a fun and creative way. Good job! Aces!
Susan: I'm very impressed! I think you’re able to maintain a lot of different textures at the same time. The pieces are still very nice and got a nice to them. The pasta remained very crispy and crunchy. I thought the sauce was great and meatballs were really tender which is kind of hard to do with turkey because it’s so lean. That was great!
Shannon: Well I have to say, I’m not a big fun of ground meat in general and that ground turkey meatballs, they are amazing. And I’m also not a big fun of the leftovers and the leftover spaghetti fried up in the birds nest thing is totally awesome. The sauce is great, it’s a really nice curry. Taste like Indian food but taste also little bit like a—really touches spaghetti and meatballs in there, so I love it. And that was amazing!
Matt: All right. Cool.
Male: Let’s see the verdict. You made yummy, yummy, yummy in their tummies. Matt you passed.
Matt: Today, they gave me the ingredients for spaghetti and meatballs. So, I made spaghetti and meatballs but I added an Indian flare and it worked. So, the next time you’re making a normal dish at home, put your own spin on it, see what you come up with, be creative. Remember, don’t be afraid of the kitchen. I had fun, I hope you had fun. Thanks for joining us. See you next time.
Male: That is it for this episode of Stump the Chef.
All original show all on HD from Onnetwork.com
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